Skier Mathieu Bijasson didn’t think it was insane enough to ski down the steepest faces of the French Alps during the day, so he rigged up some skis and poles with LED lighting and did it at night. The result is visually beautiful and teeth-clenchingly terrifying all at once.

Trump International Golf Links was built on the site of a protected 4,000-year-old sand dune; he bullied anyone who wouldn’t sell their homes to him to build it and then sent the holdouts a bill for the 15-foot-high wall he built around their homes to block their view of the ocean; he promised a $1.25B […]

The Boing Boing Store’s Gift Guide is full of ideas for pretty much anyone in your life like hipster ice cub trays, Xbox controllers, Halo Boards, and even diamond necklaces. As always, all products in the Boing Boing Store come at great discounts, too. Shop by price bucket starting at under $20. Under $20:Bloxx Jumbo Ice Trays […]

Unlike traditional lighters, the SaberLight features an electronic plasma beam that’s both rechargeable and butane-free. This sleek lighter is even approved by TSA, so you’ll never be stuck buying lighters you’ll just have to throw away partially used. For some people, like me, this is a pretty big game-changer. The SaberLight’s beam is actually both hotter and cleaner […]

Holiday shopping is in full swing, and the Striiv Touch is one of the best gift ideas I’ve landed on. Its simple design works for females and males, and its wide range of features makes it suitable for even the non-fitness enthusiasts in your life.Unlike traditional fitness trackers, the Striiv Touch also acts as a smartwatch. It […]

As another one from the great empty realm of Canada, let me remind you that Olympic medal stats are meaningless unless they are expressed in per capita terms. China has about 39 times more people to choose from than Canada does, so unless they end up with 39 times more medals, we win.

Eh, they’re OK. With a population of 127.8 million and 11 medals, they so far have one medal for every 11.6 million citizens. Both Italy (8 medals, 1/7.6 million) and France (7 medals, 1/9.3 million) are doing better than they are.

On a per capita basis, the best country in the end is usually some very tiny country that manages to snag a single medal. I haven’t run the numbers for all the single medal countries (I have a day job), so there may be a medal leader in there.

And just for the record, yeah, the USA (17 medals, 1/18.3 million) is beating Canada (1 medal, 1/34.4 million).

Agreed. I don’t understand the need to repeat the same events with different strokes. Just have freestyle – you’re free to do backstroke if you prefer, tough titties if you lose because you chose a slower stroke. There aren’t separate competitions for Scissors and Fosbury Flop High Jump techniques, or underarm javelin…

There’s a reason for swimming being so significant: Many countries don’t have the infrastructure, so the competition is really only between the richest countries. Same with sailing and equestrian events; the cost of supporting a large amateur athlete population is prohibitive, and it is from that population that the elite athletes most commonly emerge.

I would be surprised if that’s the most up-to-date source. Things may be different for LOCOG but when I worked on an Olympic site a few years ago, the one* inviolable rule was that we did not update the site with provisional results but had to wait for the official, rubber-stamped ones. In some cases the delay was measured in hours.